What social media consultants have in common with Jennifer Aniston

I’ve read a few articles over the year talking about what it takes to be a social media manager. (Yes, yes, I’ll get to Jennifer Aniston in a minute).

When you work in social media, there’s certainly a lot to keep up with. And it can make you weary.

Jennifer Aniston

Now, this is definitely a #firstworldproblem post because, let’s face it, I’m not working on the chain gang or on the frontline. But there are long hours involved in my job. And it’s not long hours of keeping up with my clients and my projects – it’s long hours of keeping ahead.

That’s a big difference.

As I’ve tweeted recently, when you’re a consultant, people expect you to have the answers (or at least know where to find them). They expect you to be aware of new, up and coming platforms. You need to know about changes to Google, Facebook and the Twitter interface. You need to be aware of the latest outstanding campaigns and what brands are trying out on social media.

(Jennifer’s still to come – wait for it, wait for it).

There’s no definitive end to your working hours, particularly if you’re in the competitive consulting field, where you also maintain your own digital footprint. So as well as keeping up with changes to the social media space, you’re:

Writing your own blog

Tweeting (and that often means reading dozens of online articles to see if they’re worth tweeting)

Trying new platforms (which means spending time there; loading your own profile; seeing how it works; connecting with others)

Checking in across places like Foursquare and Gomiso to maintain a profile

Loading photographs to spaces like FlickR or Instagram

I could bemoan that this means my job is a seven day job. But then, I’m not the only one who can’t afford to switch off.

And this is where Jennifer Aniston comes in.

Do you think it’s easy winning the Decade of Hotness Award? Do you think Jenny lolls about all day, eating what she likes, taking in movies, sleeping in? Oh no sir. She’s got a strict exercise regime and she cannot ever, ever let up. If she does, boom! She gets saggy and before you know it, unflattering photos of wobbly thighs are on the cover of Famous magazine and his/her agent isn’t getting his calls returned.

According to the article:

Aniston’s commitment to her body is paramount and a source on the set of her film, The Bounty, revealed to Life and Style Weekly magazine, ‘She runs before filming starts. We were filming from 6am until almost 11 at night and her body looks amazing.’

So if Jennifer can “run and work out every day”, surely PR and social media consultants such as myself can manage to keep my nose to the laptop grindstone?

Like this:

Related

5 thoughts on “What social media consultants have in common with Jennifer Aniston”

As a developer/SEO/etc guy I’m in the same boat, always needing (wanting) to be ahead of the curve, but if we take a hiatus/get slack and fall behind in media/tech, we can knuckle down and do some hard work to catch up.

Once someone who’s based their career on looks/physical ability succumbs to the decay of time, they can’t just work hard and get back in the game – it’s over – they have zero value.

The best part for us is though, we can fade away without the limelight that never shone our way, Jen is stuck with it until she dies – she can keep the money.

There’s something very scary about you comparing yourself with a celebrity like Aniston. Her work is done essentially to maintain an image that is false in the first place. Her dedication to her body is a celebration of a fantasy that we can can prevent aging or that aging is what defines our value. I hope that she is also attempting to develop herself as an actor. Still a fantasy but a genuine skill and value that can maintain her beyond the inevitable ravages of time. I hope that maintaining a social media presence has a little more actual value than the mad pursuit of a narcissist fantasy

Post navigation

Public Relations | Adelaide

Welcome to the online hub for Michelle Prak's public relations consultancy. Read articles about corporate communications including tips on media relations and how to manage your profile. See the "Prakky public relations" page for a list of services. Please email michelle @prakky.com.au to get in touch.